Fall is here, and with it a new season of activity as a prelude to the holidays. If you can find a free afternoon, spend just a few hours sprucing up your porch or patio with seasonal spirit before your trick-or-treaters arrive.

General Fall Porch Style

Natural textures layered next to found items can create a cozy outdoor seat for watching the leaves change. Using a hay bale as a temporary coffee table is an inexpensive and functional way to cozy up your outdoor space. Try using a small tray or basket as a sturdy, flat surface to hold a beverage or book.

Here, a rustic chair doubles as a side table for a vintage cola crate holding pink mums.

Make over tin cans with paint and fill them with your favorite seasonal flowers. A generous neighbor let me pick these from her garden.

Use your arrangement to freshen up any space, from an entry to a tabletop.

A wood crate provides extra display space and storage. A stack of old paperbacks bolsters some mini pumpkins. Lavender sprigs in a vintage milk jug add both a pleasant aroma and height to a wooden-crate-turned-side-table.

Simple Burlap Pillow Cover

Burlap or linen sacks make for an easy pillow cover during the holidays. This small burlap sack was one of those "I'll find something to with this one day" items that found a new (and temporary) purpose as our porch swing cushion. If you don't have one, you can just cut some burlap to length and sew one up.

Stuff your pillow into the sack and tuck leftover fabric into the open end, hiding the pillow inside.

Wrap a ribbon around the sack and tie it. Of course, if you are using an indoor pillow as the filler, bring your pillow inside if the weather gets too damp.